Atrocities on Rohingyas: UN warns Myanmar of withdrawing aid

The United Nations has warned Myanmar of withdrawing support in the Rakhine state to avoid complicity in a government “policy of apartheid” for Rohingyas, reported The Guardian.

The British newspaper found a copy of a letter that was sent from Knut Ostby, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, to Win Myat Aye, minister for social welfare in Myanmar, relaying the decision.

The letter was issued on June 6, the report added.

The UN decided to withhold support “beyond life-saving assistance” in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps deemed “closed” by the government, unless fundamental changes occur.

Agencies of the UN have worked continuously in camps for Muslim communities displaced by violence in Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state seven years ago.

The letter said from now on, UN assistance could only be provided when it was “linked to tangible progress made on the fundamental issue of freedom of movement”.

Ostby said, the policy by the Myanmar government “risks entrenching segregation”.

In 2017, the Myanmar government vowed to begin closing the IDP camps, where 128,000 Rohingya and Kaman Muslims have been forced to live in squalid, insanitary conditions with their freedom of movement severely restricted after their homes were destroyed in violence in 2012.

The government agreed to follow recommendations of a commission led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan which called for the displaced people to be rehoused in a voluntary and consultative manner, where possible, near their original villages, and with access to livelihoods.

However, the living conditions for the relocated Rohingyas remain dire and virtually unchanged, with their basic human rights, particularly freedom of movement and access to livelihoods, almost entirely denied.

The letter pointed out that those in the old “closed” camps or newly built camps were still suffering the same indignities, with no access to “basic services” or “livelihood opportunities”. Even the location of the camps has remained virtually unchanged.

A UN official in Myanmar, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “The government plan to build permanent housing on or next to the camps makes it very clear that the apartheid-like separation will be permanent and therefore crosses a red line for continual support to the camps.”

Rohingyas have long been one of the most persecuted ethnic groups in Myanmar. The 2012 violence, which saw hundreds of thousands of Rohingya homes destroyed, was followed in October 2016 and August 2017 by security operations that drove around 800,000 people over the border to Bangladesh. About half a million are estimated to remain in Myanmar.

This is the first known attempt by the UN to adopt a tougher policy on camp closures, following months of warnings contained in a series of damning internal assessments on the government’s actions and the risk of complicity in abuses if international agencies continued to provide assistance.

A UN document written in September 2018, noted that “the only scenario that is unfolding before our eyes is the implementation of a policy of apartheid with the permanent segregation of all Muslims, the vast majority of whom are stateless Rohingya, in central Rakhine.”

“The government’s current strategy would essentially formalise and entrench a system of segregation that would perpetuate human rights violations for years to come,” it added.

The UN Myanmar’s decision comes at a time when Bangladesh has blamed its neighbor of not creating conducive conditions for return of Rohingya and a campaign of misinformation against Bangladesh.

“The international community remains paralysed,” the UN official in Myanmar told The Guardian.

“The status quo cannot continue, and unless we see concrete progress towards restoring Rohingya rights, those providing support or assistance in Rakhine – aid agencies, donor states, or others – risks being complicit in the state’s enforced segregation and crimes against humanity.”

A UN spokesperson confirmed of a letter sent to Myanmar government on June 7, 2019, but declined to comment on its contents.